I love Valentine's Day. So, as a foot of snow blanketed Westchester County, New York, I enjoyed my home decorated with vintage Valentine post cards and hearts hanging everywhere. Even as a child, I could not wait to exchange valentine cards at school. Homemade one's with lacy doilies and hearts cut out of construction paper were my favorite. My daughter once received one such card from a teenage boy. There was something so sweet and true about it that I still think that someday they will get married.
No matter how many times that I have celebrated with dinners, parties or chocolate; the holiday of love still enchants me! I am not alone of course. Many people spend a great deal of time and thought remembering their loved ones and trying to find novel ways of expressing the depth of their feeling. So, it is no surprise that this holiday, with origins in ancient Europe and the martydom of a Catholic priest, has gained a worldwide adherence.
The word love appears 310 times in the King James Bible. As I was reading through some of those passages, I began to think of love in my life. Love is funny balloons and a warm, uplifting valentine card from a friend who just visited me when I was sick. How thoughtful! Love goes into the planning, shopping, and preparation of tonight's dinner. Day in and day out those healthy meals keep coming. That's Amore! A child running to hug their grandparents. Love is hugs and kisses and all the physical expressions of love! "Good job, I am so proud of you son." Love is speaking to others to uplift and ennoble. Family reunions, girls night out, visiting the elderly people in your life. Love is spending meaningful time together!
We all have the desire to know and to be known. Then after we are known, to be loved for who we are, and to love in return. It is a foundational principle in our life. If we lack this we can die, or we can hurt others in our pain. God loves us with an everlasting love. This deep and eternal love fills us, teaches us, and directs us in our life. From this, we are able to get this love thing right. The Bible makes this clear in 1 John 4:7-8 - "Beloved, let us love one another:for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love." So, get to know God, the source of all love this Valentine's Day. Just Google love verses in the Bible and begin to think about the real meaning of love.
Here are a few verses to start with: Galatians 5:7-"Love your neighbor as yourself." Colossians 3:14-"And over all these virtues put on love, which binds all together in perfect unity." 1 Corinthians 13:4-8- "Love suffers long(is patient) and kind, does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails." 1 Corinthians 13:13-"And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love."
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